whose presence would disperse Such vapours vice could here have no commerce Declining was no wonder there appears If pitchie vapours now did blot the sphears Which Joseph knew when he in humble sort Vnto his father brought their ill report Yet not in base revenge and ranc'rous spleen As is in some maligning Brethren seen Who strive to raise the Trophies of their name And Triumph on the Tombes of others shame Or some as if their envie were so nice To wound the Person and to spare the Vice But Joseph's heart with Zealous sorrow bleeds While to his father he reheaâ—st their deeds Nay further thus he did exasperate His Brethrens spleen and mov'd their sweiling hate Quoth he Dear Brethren not a foggy stream From a distemper'd liver no vain theam Ingrost my fancie when thus by your leaves I dreampt you and my self were binding sheaves My sheaf me thought rose up all your's in signe Of duty did obeysance unto mine His Brethren start and check him how so plain And must thou thus become our King and raign True in your robes your Majestie 's impall'd Oh how we long to see your grace install'd A scepter for him no thou sawcy swain A Rod to whip thee to thy wits again Nay further harmlesse Joseph did incur Their hate which needed not a second spur Brethren quoth he No aim to disinherit You of your Birth-right 't is no private Spirit My head like th' highest region of the air From all such Meteors is pure and fair I dream'd the Sun and Moâ—â— did with a troop Of'leven starrs unto mee humbly stoop No sooner spoke but all his Brethren rouz One stamps and fumes another frownes and vowes Must Father Mother and we all eleven Submit to thee how long since cam'st from heaven When is your Majestie 's inauguration King of your country Father of your nation These Temples are too stately to be bound With rosie Chaplets no they must be crown'd These armes of late too massie grown to weigh The worthlesse sheephook must a scepter sway Joseph takes all with an unfurrow'd brow And mildly crowcheth with a lowly bow Anon unto his Father tells again The heav'nly dreams of his inspired brain Who though his son was yet in years but green It fills him more with wonder than with spleen Quoth he Thine and thy Brothers purity Spark like a constellation in my skie In whom Vice ne'r could get a patronage Free from the sins that do ingross this age But that I with the rest shall prostitute Submissively to thee I yet dispute This in the Brethren had ill blood begotten Which by hot rage was soon to rancour rotten And yet no opportunity had been That they might vomit their impostum'd spleen Time was when youthfull Joseph's Brethren fed Their fleecy charge on Shechems flow'ry bed Anon-their wanton Lambkins further rov'd And they with them to Dothan next remov'd When Jacob calling Joseph to his tent With such like words him to his Brethren sent Run and make hast again my darling son On whose life 's thread that of my life is spun I through whose Organs breath my life and whose Eys if long absent mine would quickly close These apples in thy cheek my pretty page Are th' onely food that do sustain my age Thou knowst in Shechem now thy Brethren are Run and bring how they and their flocks do fare Obedience wing'd with loyalty now posts With nimble speed to Shechems past'rall coasts And finding not his Brethren there he wanders In crooked by-paths mazes and Meanders Thus roved he perplex'd till found by one Who told him they to Dothan late were gone Thither he bends and might anon behold His Brethren and their flocks as late was told One of his Brethren seeing him in hast Cryes yonder commeth our Enthusiast All with consent giv'd way to headstrong fury Sans the convention of the sacred Jury Of reason love and faith Joseph must die Grim death shall cast him in a Lethargy Then when he wakes let him with dreams out-brave Our thoughts thus slain let 's cast him in some Cave This said thus starts up Reuben Heav'n forbid We should be guilty all of fratricide Forbear the milder Citizens of th' wood Upon each tree will carve this theam of blood Forbear the Fish will lose their being mute Each Bird ' gainst murther quaintly will dispute Forbear our Lambs with bleating Oratory When they come home will tell of Josephs story Our Heards miscarry and each pregnant Ew Enix abortive Lamb-kins at the view Forbear the raging winds will burst their lungs And in articulate tones pronounce his wrongs O be not taught by self-experience Consider Cains just curse for this offence And since God is the same can we expect But like proceedings should have like effect Yet if your charity cannot forgive Then let humanity grant that he live Into the pit let 's cast the silly Swain So spoke that he might set him free again This said our nimble youth with active pace Where they consulted had attaind the place All rush on him God save our Soveraign sheaf Nay prethee speak not resolution 's deaf Do'st blush wee 'l empty all these veins of blood As clean as is thy soul from grace and good This is the coat this that Majestick sute To which we all must humbly prostitute A coat of Sack-cloth for to expiate Thy sin and to appease deserved hate Far better would become thee thou shalt die Pale death shall cloath thee in her livery What not a word unless you wear a Crown Pray knit your brows wee 'l tremble at your frown I prethee weep I prethee sigh my Boy That we may dance that we may sing for joy Let 's place him on yon-hillock for a throne Then to his Majestie wee 'll all fall proue Come come strip off this coat and next prepare For to uncloath thy soul why dost thou stare Rapt in some strange Enthusiasm we know Death quoth another shall intrance him now At this our youth grew pale his blood retreats And to his heart a fierce alarum beats Knees bended hands expans'd erected eye All silent Rhet'rick of humility Got nought but this We will without remorse Of soul and body make a quick divorce Like poor Absyrtus by his Sister slain Or wretched Itis so he beg'd in vain Quoth he I doe not use this bootless strife For to obtain that worthless name of life I fear not death yet Brethren pittie take If not for mine yet for my Fathers sake Since ther 's a God to Heaven I appeal If I you hate may not the stones conceal But give me strait the lie my soul is white Black guilt on her ne'r could such trespass write If that it could then I would never grudge Nay should my self-condemn were I my Judge Had I deserv'd death I 'd yeeld to dye Justice should swill untill my veins were dry Oh how his pittie-pleading eyes would view Now sadly one then to another sue Then to their
our pledge As yet quoth Joseph doth that old man breath Hath Fate not yet betray'd him unto death Is death yet retrograde hath yet your God Unto your Famine set a period Great Sir quoth they our Father yet doth breath Through heav'n and you but no triumphant wreath Of full-ear'd Harvest crowns the Husbands brows Nor one smali Sheaf doth answer all our vowes Our Father lives though not with wonted heat His heart with healthy vigour yet doth beat As yet he lives unless his life be spun To th' utmost thread through absence of his Son By us he beggs you Sir though we are rude And though of language indigest and crude This present as the Interest t' accept Of a more vast and far immense a debt Is this quoth Joseph he of whom I sware That being owes and life to the same care Of the same Sire with you they on their knee Falling submissively say this is he Let God quoth Joseph from his bounteous treasure Showr on thee blessings in a gracious measure I now my Censure willingly revoke Gladly release your brother from this yoak Untill your miserie be retrograde You shall b'admitted here in peace to trade Y' are proof enough y' are of an honest tribe What doth this Present mean I ruth needs no bribe Scarce could he Passion check which would eruct What he would have concealed scarce obstruct His tears which now like billowes rais'd by wind Disdain'd within their cells to be confind Which lest too soon they might excell his power He stept aside and wept a plenteous shower Thrice had he wash'd his face but tears did rise Too great a chanell for his conduit-eyes And he must stay their weeping the extent Of his large cells had too too small a vent Thrice had he lockt his door but all in vain For through the flood-gates broke the silver rain Thrice he in Passion as he past the stair Did for his Brother hug the empty air Then must return for tears again did trace Their rivulets upon his blubber'd face Scarce could he with his Passion take a truce Scarce could he stop his tear-betraying sluce His reeking cheeks like Roses rain-bedasht Imagin from their stains at length were washt When Passions close recluse at length came down With looks importing nor a smile nor frown None there despaired through a stern reflect None by his pleasant looks might him suspect At his command the Table strait was spread The Dainties usher'd by a grim death head Where Joseph by himself was serv'd in state His honour had no rivall knew no mate And Egypt ' mongst all of the Universe With th' Hebrews might not eat and scarce commerse Now as each Brothers age excell'd in date Of years each one above another sate The eldest was not Lord nor th' young'st his Page But each took place according to his age To whom his Lordship sent to each a dish And so surpast at once desert and wish And as though clouds shrowd Titans golden ray Through them unseen he doth dispense the day So Joseph though thus strange yet did dispense Kind welcome through his favours influence As oft the Sun doth through those vapours pierce That shrowd his beauty from the Universe So through his austere strangeness oft there shin'd Beams of unwonted favour while they din'd On Benjamin though few the cause could ghesse Why he was served with a five fold messe And though his Lordship by no means could brook Excess his Butler Luxurie his Cook No Kickshawe wanting was nor Courtly cate Which they enjoy'd in peace and jolly chat Now heav'n through grief of losing Phoebus light In mourning darkness entertain'd the night And stars like to obsequious Tapors shin'd As if lamenting that their Lord declin'd When Joseph charg'd the Steward of his Corn With early care t'anticipate the morn Yer sleep the Howlets watchfull sense benum'd Birds chirp their morning peals or Beetle hum'd In plenteous sort to fill each Brothers Sack Till ev'n they did with swelling plenty crack To give them for their journey and restore In each ones Sack his Money as before And in the youngest Brothers Sack to knit His silver Cup Love's waited on by wit Soon as Aurora wept her dewy drops And jocund day peer'd on the mountain tops The carefull Brethren kindly were dismist And when departing Sol the morn had kist His Lordship sent his Steward on pursute Of the late strangers to their charge t'impute T' have stoln his Lordships Cup and thus to gloss With harsh expressions on a fault so gross That if his Lordships late unwonted care Wrought no impression yet how they did dare T' abuse him thus whose power like the Kings Could reach far off like wide-stretcht Dragons wings That not deliberation could of time Nor close evasions excuse this crime That 't was the Cup by which his Lord divin'd No weak conjecture of a doubtfull mind This spoke that by this means he might reduce Them on pretence to answer this abuse The carefull Steward this command discharg'd And wisely on the premises enlarg'd Soon like a biting frost this fierce arrest Nipt all the hopes that budded on their crest Great Sir quoth they why speaks my Lord these words They of our hearts dissect the tender cords God who Heaven rules and Hells infernall vault Knows we are innocent free from this fault Fearing mistakes we brought again our Coin Why should we Gold or Silver then purloin Wee 'll this offence not with pretences gild Truth needs no colour let his blood be swill'd By the severest Justice at a sup With whomsoe'r is found his Lordships Cup. Well quoth the Steward as you say I 'll deal Your words are just and I to them appeal With whomsoe'r his Lordships Cup is found Ev'n as you spoke he shall my slave be bound But yee shall all be free through innocence Since each must answer for his own offence At this each willingly his Sack unknit While each one sought himself for to acquit The Cup was found knit in the young'st his Sack At which ev'n all their ey-strings seem'd to crack So stars as sham'd of day I 've seen to wink So have I seen the Snail being hit to shrink Within his shelly penthouse and now fail'd Their eyes as sudden grief their ey-balls veil'd What should they say for to deny the deed Did seem a shift weak as a Nilus reed Which would both fail and hurt them should they lie What should they do who like a late-spawn'd frie In the wild Sea were subject to the prey Of every greater fish ev'n so seem'd they Sad Beniamin spar'd neither vowes nor oaths To back his innocence each rent his cloathes And back in grief returned to the City Submissively to crave his Lordships pitie Guess them return'd to them the Lord begun What deed is this quoth he that you have done I gave you Wine for which my Cup you stole Thought you I had not a divining Soul The fact is evident
then cease to quilt A web of specious lies upon your guilt This aggravates what I of late suspected Heav'n will not you should thus passe undetected Great Sir quoth they you justly may upbraid Us with your love we justly are betrayd The fact is clear what shall we then allege To clear our selves and who shall be our pledge Wee scarce have blood in all our veins great Lord Enough to stain your Vice-revenging sword Creat Sir we beg if bondage expiates Our Crime then mercy rules among the Fates Nay quoth the Lord my heart 's not Adamant No rocky Isle where such like Furies haunt Nor hath my Soul so liquorish a gust That nought but blood can satiate her lust Mercy and Justice here are neer a kin Our mercy here 's still greater than the sin Think I have pitty on your Fathers age Nor will enslave you all in vassalage I 'll onely recompence upon that Youth That had my Cup bonds for his breach of truth No sore-tormenting Probe unto the quick More deeply searcht a wound nor of the sick No launcet hit more sure the master-vein Than did his Lordships words pierce through each swain Who ever thus in tearms accutely coucht Rub'd on the matter they would have untoucht Some beg'd some wept and some confus'dly mutter'd Some indigested resolutions utter'd At last quoth Judah humbly on his knee Great Sir yet what you spake your vow decree Let not your anger flame that I so rude In language and in habit thus intrude You ask'd when first wee hither did repair Doth yet your Father breath the common air Have you alive a Brother more at home Our speech in devious falshoods did not come But kept truths rode quoth we Our Father 's old Half wearied Fate doth yet her distaff hold We have a Brother more a youthfull page Whom He esteems the comfort of his age His Fathers joy since his deceased Brother The onely Son of his expired mother And since our Father 's old and lame and dim He only walks and breaths and sees in him Then saidst thou as a witness of your truth Bring down your Brother let me see the youth Great Sir quoth we our Brother stands between Death and our Fathers lamp as th' only screen And He remov'd our Sires declining snuff Would soon b'extinguisht by some envious puff Yet saidst thou to thy servants bring the Child If that you will we shall be reconcil'd All this we to our Father did rehearse With the proceedings of our last commerce Our Corn exhausted there was long dispute 'T wixt Want and Nature we renew'd our sute To him to send our brother and at large Importunately urg'd your Lordships charge So quoth our father were I most forlorn By Rachaell I had two children born Whereof one parting hence became a feast Ay me I fear unto some rav'nou Beast With whom fled half my life then leave his Brother 'T were Paricide to take away the other O think my sons should you remove the prop That stayes my age I in my grave should drop Were there a Chrystall window in each Brest We know no more than what we have confest Now should we home and leave his son behind As with Prophetick doubts his fear divin'd Both hope and life would fail him should I know That I my self were the unhappy Bow Through whom false death aim'd her remorsless dart To the true mansion of my Fathers heart What should I do that shall both guilty seem Both of my Brothers loss and death of him I to my Sire was surety for the youth Have pitty on his age and on my truth When death quoth I my lamp of life shall quench May my good name dy in a noysome stench And with like vows I heaven did implore If I his son not safely did restore Then if my Lord please to reverse his doom I 'd gladly serve bound in my Brothers room Great Sir be pleas'd t' admit me in exchange I 'd weary cruelty and mock revenge I 'd count deaths sentence but an idle breath Yer I 'd seem guilty of my Fathers death Good Sir have pitty I would dare to meet A Thunderbolt wrapt in a lightning sheet Yet I 'd provoke a Fathers angry gall Since Parents curses are Propheticall As a new tun'd Cask of unpurged Wine Wind pris'ned in the earth or like a Mine The one if clos'd will make a furious vent The other break forth in a thundring rent Such were his Lordships tears such was his joy Which Passion though it long seem'd strange and coy And fickle in the wooing th' end did prove In it was coucht a Brothers tender love Which he no more was able to resist Than the quick pulse that thumpt within his wrist And joy like wind impris'ned in the earth Will shake th' hearts center but 't will have a birth Now since he could no longer thus contest H'intended secretly t' unlock his breast Shame that 's sins daughter wer 't not for this care Might here have prov'd the mother of despair Open reproofs like an impetuous rain Do wash away but not refresh the grain Now would he think to speak and then retreat Then on the prize his heart a charge would beat And though the cause as yet obscurely slept Yet Pharaohs servants heard him while he wept At last he thus began I Joseph am Is th' Oyl yet spent that fed my Fathers flame This on the porches of their ears he beat But all in vain that sense had left her seat And with the eyes by horrour scattered Had to the brain as an Asylum fled Yet being the kingly hearts chief centinells He by degrees dismist them from their cells For sense-bereaving horrors are like lees Which being once stirr'd will sinke but by degrees Now when they something had expell'd their fears Hee with these speeches board anew their ears I am your brother Joseph whom you sold Is yet my Father ' mongst th'alive inroll'd Come neer and see I have no false reserves Come on this visage spend your visive nerves I am the same as when you took my coat Though chang'd in hiew and of a rougher throat Though heav'n have chang'd my Fortune years my stature Nor time hath chang'd my love nor clime my nature Fear not the fact though gross shall not be blaz'd 'T is from the book of my remembrance rac'd Then judge your selves not rashly bless the deed For I was promis'd to preserve your seed Two years are past wherein remorsless dearth Hath knit the bowels of the teeming earth And yet these five years Nile in vain shall flowe The Husband-man in vain shall plough and sow Like a true Alchimist hath providence Drawn Honey from the Poyson of offence You sold God sent me hither heav'n be blest That turn'd your very sin unto the best Hast then with winged swiftness and infuse Fresh spirits in our Father with this news Say thus saith Joseph whom thou thoughtst to be Seal'd in the bosome of
crannies of the earth Streams to the Springs from whence they had their birth Then why should Chilkren if advanc'd by Fate Neglect their Parens in a meaner state But yet I boast not that my power is such But joy I 'ave means t' express my love so much Though heav'n have freed me from the slavish yoak Of heavy bondage that he hath not broke Of filiall duty this that thus doth deck With gawdy Ornament my gorgeous neck I count less honour than that dutious bond In which I serve thee do not then despond I Father am to Pharaoh but will be A true observant dutious Son to thee No bleer-ey'd sorc'rers nor Egyptian Weirds Shall hurt your persons wrong your Flocks or Herds Thy crown of silver hairs I 'll ever hold In greater honour than his Crown of gold Honours null not relation th' Oceans flood Alters not Nilus nor can honour blood It tickles oft the temper with conceits But as for me honour on duty waits I'â—l goe before and as your true Attorney Possess the King of your intents and journey My Father and his houshold flocks and droves Have late left Palestinu's Sun-parcht groves And down are come whose cognizance of old Both was and is a sheephook and a fold Which should his Grace demand speak I beseech According to the tenour of my speech And since th' Egyptians ever entertain A Shepheard both with fury and disdain You may in Goshen safely live and trade Where for your Flocks are Pastures Wells and Shade And thus you may if thus you wisely deal Instate your selves in Egypts Common-weal When Love with Policy had thus conspir'd Imagine Ioseph to his charge retir'd Where he without a dilatory pause Thus to his Sovereign pleads his Fathers Cause Dread Sir what am I a dead dogg or flea That thou shouldst grant my sute or hear my plea Who first thy favours didst to me impart And then lookst on me worthy of desert To all which wouldst thou adde this one request I 'd count it greater far than all the rest My Father and my Brethren late are come And have left Canaan their native home Their stomachs bark for food their bodies lean Their looks are meager and their teeth are clean And Dearth more fierce than either Wolf or Fox Hath from the Pastures scarr'd their Heards and Flocks Which with them they have brought and all to prove The promis'd bounty of his princely love That while Dearth falls unto her lowesteb Their threads of life may to a peacefull web Of safety here be spun whose hearts do pant In expectation of thy Princely grant This ended quoth the King My darling Prince I rather will inlarge than basely mince My promise to evasions I applaud Thy filiall love nor power shall nor fraud Oppose or circumvent you no my gem I love the Branch nor will neglect the stem Since I sent for him he and his affairs Held room in equall with my choicest ears Joseph triumphing at these blest events Five of his Brethren to his Grace presents To whom quoth Pharaoh by what labours sweat Have you your sustenance are cloath'd and eat Do you the Sullow hold or tug the Oars What trade expells your vigour through your poars Dread Sir quoth they we are but simple worms Or such like creatures of despised forms Yet not to grate thy ears with vain digression Ours and our Fathers trade is by succession To feed our Flocks and so by carefull thrift Our providence enlargeth heavens gift We feed them they feed us and lest we freeze In Winter time they cloath us with their fleece When Phoebus first displayes his golden locks We send abroad our Heards dismiss our flocks And while he chears the world with carefull hook We them protect defend and overlook And when the Sun again withdrawes his gold From th'Western hills we pin them in our fold We are by famine from our homes divorc'd No idle vagrants but are sadly forc'd We 〈◊〉 in vain for Springs our Wells are sunk Down to the Center and our Earth is shrunk And bak'd to stony clods whose chaps in vain Gape for the showers of refreshing rain Now we intreat thee in this time of Dearth That art the onely Father of the earth Let us in Goshen live where both are Rocks Fiâ— for our Goats and Pasture for our flocks We 'll in the Land not plant our selves nor build But sojourn in our Tents as strangers should We 'll all bâ—â—uled by thy Country lawes And with our labours feed our hungry maws At â—his quoth Pharoah Sirs do not despond To such it were no weakness to be fond Your Brother makes you nigh as if each vein Swell'd with â—igh blood and of a nobler grain Nature none equalls unto me in blood Who shall partake more freely of our food Then shall your Father and your selves I grant You may in Egypt freely build and plant This said thus unto Joseph he insists Dear Joseph I my Peers and princely Priests Thy Fathers comming do congratulate And likewise with thee all condole his Fate Yet though the Sun shoot forth his scorching beams The air distill gross dewes and rotten streams Our Fields forbear to spring our Trees to bud And Nile desist to yeeld his fruitfull mud As if the Skies had with the earth combind To act the ruine of all humane kind My Genius tell me and I more than hope Thy Fathers and each Brother Horoscope With kinder aspect happier things foretold And that 't is in Fates Notaries inroll'd That Egypt is design'd without dispute Their safe Asyle from Famines fierce pursute All Egypt is before thee if our Land Have any part untouch'd by Famines band Of scourging plagues as Goshen most is known Let them possess that Country as their own They shall not be as Meteors for a time Exhal'd but as fix'd Stars in Egypts clime And if thou knowst one fit to feed my Herd Let him unto that Office be prefer'd This said old Jacob by his carefull Sonne Was brought and placed neer to Pharaohs Throne Where having breathed on the King and Peers A blessing both of Peace and many years Grave Sir quoth Pharoah we our thanks retort And welcome thy descent unto our Court Thy dutious Son was for his Father zealous I and my Peers were of thy safety jealous Lest Famine having draind our Fields and Cells Should leave you like so many barks and shells Sans coar or kernell cease thou to request Live boldly on thy Joseph's Interest Who sees the Sun but reason wills for shame To praise the Author of that glorious flame And who survives his neighbour in those dayes Who for the Son will not the Father praise Thou hast a Son whom all the world must prize Less worth hath been ador'd with Sacrifice An Angell sent from heav'n could not have done More than preserv'd us all so hath thy Son 'T was he that when all Charmers were nonplust Inchanters all were dumb my Dreams discust All Sorcery